Digging into digital craft through design fabrication

Site Construction

After the mass redesign to accommodate a completely new site; fabrication, construction and assembly was in full swing. With helping hands from 0812 Building Solutions the upper cable net was set into place and tightened to temporarily take up the weight of the future iced structure.

Next step was to have all hands on deck for the ‘Big Pull’. Lifting the building into place was always a part of the plan for site construction, we had been imagining it would be undertaken through an inverted marionette technique. We began by first establishing the position of the 2D fabric pattern relative to the upper cable net. For every hole in the fabric there was a 3/8” cable that corresponded to a U-clamp on the upper cable net. Once all 28 cables had been draped through their U-clamps they were fed back through the hole in the fabric. This allowed for all 17 individuals on site to begin pulling at the cables, resulting in a lift of the fabric. Having a uniform tensile force on all the cables helped direct the structure into its final form and allowed for a truly collaborative install. The last important part was to reach through each hole and clamp the cable to itself, giving the structure a form of permanence that would allow for icing. Yet still give us the freedom to losing the upper cable net to test the loading capacity, once iced.

Inherent to the construction and design detailing of the upper cable net structure was a wide tolerance range. Since we were unable to mimic the cable material and weighted iced fabric in the digital model, it was critical we had the opportunity to adjust or remove sections of cables if need be. Ultimately turnbuckles proved to be our best friend in this construction. They allowed us loads of room to adjust, tighten and release the fabric structure when we needed.